
elizabeth tuttle - eugenics in our family history
Fighting fascism one generation at a time
Sharing how the history of eugenics threads through my family history.

“In a series of Dickensian twists I ended up semi-incarcerated on Hart Island off the Bronx coast, in the waters of Pelham Bay. That’s where the Phoenix House facility that I was placed in was located. A long term drug rehab program, though I was not a drug addict. It was roughly 12 miles, as the crow flies, from where I grew up on 57th Street to the island, but it was like being in another country. A small and isolated piece of land, with a rough and tumble history, lying in the waters of the Long Island Sound, Hart Island became my home for almost 2 years.
Though my team and I are not historians, we have tried our best to remain true and accurate throughout this post.”- Ellen Kaye
The History


Map With Hart Island
In the days when I lived in the Bronx I didn’t know my ancestors had settled there hundreds of years ago. What would my 14 year old self have thought of that? It might have been a real source of strength. Maybe a kind of coming home. A new adventure inside some very old footsteps.
Old Bones Odyssey -The Album


Pictures from our Old Bones stories below
Sources And Inspirations
- The Hart Island Project
- “The Hart Island Project assists families and individuals with limited resources in accessing the history and public information concerning burials on Hart Island, and increases public awareness, through engaged storytelling and creative projects.”